To get a home at the $800K offer point you want to be looking in the $725K to $790K range and offer over asking. These homes from what I am looking at are near Aborn/San Felipe/Murillo/Ruby and won't be the country club homes with the views. The country club homes (higher elevation) start around $1.3 and go to about $4M with many in the $1.6M to $2.2M range. I toured a beautiful five bedroom home $1.6M on the weekend.

So it's not that you can't be in Evergreen, it's just that you can't be in the luxury homes neighborhoods!

The homes in the $725K to $799K range go quickly so you want to be available to offer the day they come on the market. You never know when a seller will say yes to the first offer -- bird in the hand.

Something else to think about -- sellers do tend to like to sell to someone who will love and take care of their home. So a snapshot of you and your family, and a story about why you want to live there, and how well you will care for the home -- will go a long way. All things being equal, many sellers will choose a family or a thoughtful presentation. Sellers don't always even know they will go for the family who cares about their house until they see the offers -- it is surprising how many will appreciate someone they believe will care about the house. It's just an emotional thing.

Now if you are a buyer investor, then I recommend you talk about how well you can maintain the home, and still put a personal touch on it. "When I walked in, I knew it was the house for me." I know that sounds mushy but it is something that often succeeds.
Good luck!

As a buyer, you have just about all the rights to back out of the deal. In this case, the information was misrepresented to you...therefore, you have every right to back out of the deal. Keep in mind, that a contract is a mutual agreement between two parties. In this case, you are NOT in mutually agreed I hope this will help.... more

If you would like more information or would like to work with an agent that represents your interest in the negotiation process versus going direct to the sales agent who represents the developer feel free to give me a call. 408-391-6722

Trulia and other sites pull information from the Santa Clara County Tax Assessor's Office giving you a view into past sales. If you want to go to the Assessor's web site you can:
https://www.sccassessor.org/index.php/online-services/properâ€¦

Knowing what the builder sold their previous homes for won't really give you any advantage negotiating with the builder. Knowing what else you can buy and its likely sales price, is what counts.

San Jose Evergreen neighborhood home values are provided at
http://julianalee.com/san-jose/evergreen-statistics.htm

San Jose zip code 95121 home values are provided at
http://julianalee.com/zip-code/95121-statistics.htm

Work with an experience real estate agent who is working full time to understand the market and find the best values for her clients. Be committed to your agent and she will be committed to your success. After work effort doesn't match full time professional effort.

One of the things about the local real estate market that we see now is that homes in areas where the average home price is below $700k, the average home values still have not risen to the peaks they had in 2007. In areas where the average price is over $700k the values on average have gone well over their 2007 peaks.

The average Evergreen home price is just about $900k but the average price has not reached the 2007 peak. If you look at
http://julianalee.com/san-jose/evergreen-statistics.htm

Scroll down to the third plot you will see that Evergreen neighborhood homes on average began selling over list price in 2012 but the trend wasn't all that strong. My neighborhood plots are done by quarter. The fourth quarter of 2013 only has data for October. which shows that most Evergreen homes have sold under list price and that on average they have sold not quite 2% under list price.

If you want to see details of Evergreen home sales you can view the information for zip code 95138 at
http://julianalee.com/zip-code/95138-home-sales.htm

Are you painting for yourself or for selling? If for yourself, you can be more adventurous with color. If for selling, pop by some open houses to see ones you like and ask what the colors are.

Bone, Wise Owl or Parisian Taupe (beige, gray, taupe) with Swiss Coffee (white) are popular choices. If you are having a professional paint the home, ask them what colors they see are commonly being chosen.

If you hire a pro painter, they may also suggest subtle color changes to give more dimension to the rooms.

Personally unless you have a historic home or one with a very distinct style (such as a Victorian or Eichler), stay away from the "Historic Homes of Distinction"-in my opinion the colors are too strong and trendy-meaning they can easily make the home look dated as soon as next year.... more

This house is not a short sale and never was a short sale. Your information is not correct.

This house was listed at $1,350,000 from May 10, 2013 to 6/3/2013. At that time the seller chose to raise the list price to $1,419,888. There are many reasons that a seller will choose to raise the sale price. The most common reason is that there is so much interest in the house that the list price is clearly too low and needs to be raised to better reflect the fair market value of the property.

With respect to whether this house is a short sale, the answer is absolutely not. The amount of money that the sellers owe on this property is relatively low for a property of this size and value.

Yes for sure.
A Contingency allows a Buyer to Back Out for " the reason called out in a contingency".

When a Seller in the present market if receiving any where from 8 - 44 offers on a property
with a Fourth all Cash with no contingency, and the other 1/3 coming in with cash and
no contingency, it becomes tough for Buyers to compete.

We live in a Metro that ranks in the top 10, where homes are selling the fastest.

If you're concerned about the commute, then the feasibility depends on your schedule. I have plenty of clients and friends who do similar commutes from San Jose to SF or even further. But, they usually have enough flexibility to commute around rush hours or not commute 2-3 days out of the week. If that's the case for you, then your total commute time per week is not going to be much different than many others who make the trek daily from San Jose to the south peninsula (Palo Alto/San Carlos) during rush hours.... more

Another way to check it out would be to visit the schools as kids are being picked up from school or are walking home, and get a feel for how the kids "are" to see where you would feel best as far as the cultural fit. When test scores are similar, you can look for other factors that will make you and your family feel the best about living in a particular area.

Also ask about strengths of the schools and compare them to your own children's propensities. For instance, some schools are strong in math or science, other schools excel in English or drama. Or perhaps a strong soccer or basketball team if your child wants to play competitively or vie for a scholarship. All of these factors can play a role in the "BEST" place for your children.

I pulled the demographics from Greatschools.net, below, so you can look at a snapshot of each high school from that perspective.

Another set of schools I like, but the API scores are slightly lower, are Noble, Sierramont Middle & Piedmont Hills High School in 95132.

Wish you the best! If you choose San Jose/Evergreen, I am an excellent neighborhood realtor in this area. I'm not so strong in Fremont, but I can recommend Sunil Sethi, he has children school-age and knows a lot about the schools. With elementaries, you cannot necessarily get in even if you live across the street. So work with someone who understands these issues and can help you not only move to the right area, but sign up and register in time to get your kids into the schools!!